Welcome to NEXT Technology Sri Lanka, a Tech Hub of NEXT, UK’s leading fashion retailer. Operating from the vibrant heart of Sri Lanka, we are a dynamic and forward-thinking team that provides cutting-edge IT services designed to power Next's global operations. With over 500 stores and Next Online serving customers across 70+ countries, our work supports a truly international retail giant.

At NEXT Technology, you’ll work on exciting, impactful projects that drive exceptional customer experiences, streamline product deliveries, and enhance the in-house systems that keep NEXT at the forefront of retail. Our talented team in Sri Lanka are central to major projects, such as overhauling the financial systems that make NEXT one of the UK’s most lucrative retailers. By joining us, you’ll be part of a highly skilled, innovative team that thrives on challenges and is committed to delivering excellence. You will collaborate closely with NEXT on ambitious projects that push boundaries, all while enjoying a workplace that values growth, creativity, and collaboration.

Start your journey with NEXT Technology today and help shape the future of global retail.

Let’s take it on!

Purpose

As a Senior Cloud Engineer, you will design, implement and maintain the Azure Platform that underpins Next’s cloud applications and services.

Responsibilities

Accountabilities

In this role, you will be heavily involved in the creation and enhancement of new and existing systems/applications using a wide range of technologies, such as:

Azure Foundations and Scaffolding Azure Networking (Express Route, Virtual Networks, ASG / NSG, Azure Firewall) Azure IaaS and PaaS, Azure Storage, Azure Migrate EntraID, Identity Management, RBAC, AAD Connect Azure SQL - PaaS Databases and Managed Instance Automation & PowerShell Terraform DNS

Main Tasks

Collaborate with architects and stakeholders to design and architect scalable, reliable, and secure technology platforms that support software applications and services. Develop and maintain infrastructure-as-code solutions using Terraform to automate the provisioning, configuration, and management of platform resources. Deploy and manage platform resources, ensuring they are configured and optimised for performance, scalability, and cost efficiency. in addition to ensuring consistent deployment and configuration of PaaS based resources (i.e. serverless functions, databases, containers) inline with standards through the usage of IaC modules and Azure Policy. Implement monitoring and alerting systems to proactively identify and resolve performance issues, bottlenecks, and capacity constraints. Ensure that platform infrastructure and services adhere to security best practices and compliance standards. Implement appropriate security controls, access management, and encryption mechanisms to protect data and systems. Ensure the stability and availability of platform resources. Provide support and troubleshooting for platform-related issues. Work closely with Architects and other Technology teams to ensure seamless integration and alignment of platform resources with overall IT infrastructure. Maintain accurate documentation of platform architecture, configurations, and processes. Stay up-to-date with the latest technologies, trends, and best practices in platform engineering. Identify opportunities for process improvement, automation, and optimization of platform resources. Participate in incident response and disaster recovery efforts, ensuring the availability and resilience of platform resources during critical events or outages. Collaborate with other teams, such as development, operations, security, and networking, to ensure effective integration and alignment of platform resources with overall IT infrastructure and business objectives. Convey a technical solution to senior management in a clear and concise manner. Understand and operate change management. Mentor junior engineers in the team, be a point of escalation and take a lead role in the coordination and resolution of major issues.

Contributions

Collaborate with team members, architects, DevOps team and other Technology teams.  Participate in meetings including daily sprint planning and refinement sessions, as well as daily stand-ups to provide work updates and discuss challenges.

Behaviors

Project Planning and Implementation Can scope, design and plan large projects Replays project scope to key stakeholders Can manage design and scoping with escalation by exception Ability to look at the bigger infrastructure picture and understand where compromises may have to be made and where precedents could be set Creates project plans detailing all required activities
Ability to accurately quote timescales for deliverables
Understands and shows dependencies (including external dependencies) Keeps plans up to date and publishes changes Ability to communicate completion of activities or justify changes to the deliverable dates Has an understanding of the project cost lifecycle (budget, capex, approval, order) Inputs into seasonal budgeting processes and understands timelines Able to provide summary high level costs including all required elements Able to discuss requirements with suppliers and vendors in the marketplace Involves commercial services\IT purchasing at appropriate times Test plans are complete and robust Ability to review and assess test plans created by more junior members of the team Adopts test plans accordingly based on results Provides concise, easy to follow and accurate handover documentation. Review operational team understanding of any new processes and procedures periodically Review of operational impact of implemented projects with the business user\systems team or the ITSM tooling

Technical Skills

Is aware and has good knowledge of all technologies used throughout their team Seeks to maintain good awareness of technologies available in the marketplace Suggests and tests new technologies for future suitability
Ability to grasp and understand complex technical concepts and disciplines Owns and drives personal development plan and demonstrates desire to learn and apply new technologies Ability to coach and train more junior team members Business Engagement Ensure internal & external stakeholders are fully aware of project progress (inc. budget and timescale updates) Maintaining good positive relationships with stakeholders with regular meetings where necessary Help and encourage stakeholders in having a basic level of understanding of cloud concepts Minimal requirement for escalations as open communication channels should mean all involved understand progress, issues etc. Understanding stakeholders requirements and leading conversations so they have a realistic understanding with expectations Defining stakeholder requirements into what is essential and what is a nice to have e.g. MoSCoW Standards, Documents and Procedures Develops and promote standards through the department
Contributes to standards for the team Identifies and deals with deviation from standards through coaching and training exercises Recognizes the importance of documentation Documentation is kept up to date Takes ownership for and actively contributes to documentation Acts as a peer reviewer of team documentation Plays an active part in the design of procedures Contributes to the development and maintenance of policies

Design & Architecture

Confident in creating suitable architecture designs for complex, multi-regional, *multi-cloud or distributed platforms that utilize an array of cloud technologies Confident in questioning proposed or existing architectural designs and is able to follow up with improvements or valid suggestions Has a complete understanding of the scope of all assigned projects Can work on large complex and cross functional projects translating business and other system teams requirements into project deliverables Replays project scope to key stakeholders Can manage design and scoping with escalation by exception Ability to review scoping by more junior team members and coach them Ability to review and challenge project deliverables\design to ensure the best solution is delivered Can derive an appropriate scope in the absence of complete information. Able to scope effectively in situations where there is a large amount of incomplete and / or complex and / or ambiguous information. Work on large complex and cross functional projects translating business and other system teams requirements into project deliverables Asks why. Does not take truths for granted unless they understand exactly where they are coming from, Replays project scope to key stakeholders Can manage design and scoping with escalation by exception. Participates in risk management and mitigation. Effectively navigates challenging trade-offs between technical ideals and business appropriate solutions. Makes pragmatic choices about taking on technical debt

Coaching and Mentoring

Able to identify team training requirements based on technological roadmaps and direction Assist IT Managers on building Skills Gap Analysis for Teams outside of Cloud *Team who are moving to run infrastructure in the cloud Provide recommendations and/or solutions to fill skills gaps that are identified Be available to more junior members to provide guidance and advice on technology choices Being the SME be available for mentoring other members of the direct team and wider Technical Services team